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Illasttrated 



BY 



12 banteifn Slides 



WILLIAM H, PvAU 

PHILADELPHIA 

>890 



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DESCRIPTIVE READING 



ON 



Niagara Falls 



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ILLUSTRATED BY TWELVE LANTERN 
SLIDES 



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WILLIAM H. RAU 

PHILADELPHIA 
1890 



Copyright, 1890, by William H. Ran. 






ILLUSTRATIONS. 



1. Rapids above the Falls. 

2. American Falls from Below — Winter. 

3. American Falls from Luna Island. 

4. Snow and Ice, Luna Island. 

5. Canada Falls. 

6. American Fall from Canada Side. 

7. Frost Work at Niagara. 

8. Canada Shore from Luna Island. 

9. Panorama of Horseshoe Falls. 

10. Maid of the Mist. 

11. Cantilever Bridge. 

12. Whirlpool Rapids. 



NIAGARA FALLS. 



To ATTEMPT a description of Niagara Falls were 
but to essay a hopeless task. Writers whose pens 
were guided by genius, painters whose brushes have 
been illumined with that " light which was never on 
land or sea, " have struggled courageously with the 
great question, only to find in the end that the 
English language was toopoor and the scope of human 
skill too narrow to do justice to so sublime a theme. 
Suffice it to say that Niagara is the boldest freak of 
all nature. In all the wide range of creation there is 
nothing which approaches it in magnificence or gran- 
deur, nor any otlier object which inspires the behold- 
er with such awe and wonder, and reveals so 
grandly the immensity of the work of the hands of 
the Creator of the universe. One must see and study 
the great cataract in order to form any conception of 
its vastness or secure a proper appreciation of its 
majesty. The essential quality of Niagara is its 
sublimity. Other falls are dashed from more stupen- 
dous heights, and lost amid chasms of rocks of wilder 
and more savage formation. Ikit none of them even 
approach this cataract in that first essential of magni- 
ficence. Nor can we be surprised at this when we 
consider that over the ledge of limestone at this point 
the accumulated waters of four vast inland seas hurl 
themselves madly on their way to the ocean, and that 
during the last half mile before the wild descent, there 

(839) 



840 NIAGARA FALLS. 

is a decline so great as to produce the most superb 
rapids. The territory that these great lakes drain is 
equal to that of the entire continent of Europe, many 
of the streams that feed Lake Superior being fully 
two thousand miles away. 

1. Kapids above the Falls, — For a half mile 
above the verge of the Falls the bed of the river is so 
steep as to produce most magnificent rapids. The 
appearance of them is exactly that of the sea, whose 
billows are heaved and tossed in every direction and 
yet at the same time are forced forward by an irresist- 
ible current ; and so furious is the rapidity of the 
current that the centre is heaped up in ridge-like form, 
and the waves on every side suddenly leap up in the 
air, and fall down with a sullen sough. The wind 
comes sweeping over them and drives their crests 
along the surface in showers of spray. Great logs 
and trees burdened with all the glory of their branches, 
with their greenery still untorn, come swooping down, 
taking leaps like greyhounds, and seeming possessed 
of independent life and motion. Now comes a great 
hemlock, bearded with age, and with an abundant 
spread of branches. How he darts along, showing- 
only portions of his length, like a great brown and 
green serpent, in an instant he shoots with tremen- 
dous speed over the brow of the Falls. How the 
rapids call aloud to each other in glee, and chase one 
another in the mad race as to which shall be the first 
to make the mighty leap. With startled eyes we 
glance at this shouting, leaping, laughing, maddening, 
scornful tempest, and as we gaze a sense of power and 
mystery overcomes the mind ; the tossing white 



NIAGARA FALLS. 841 

gleams, and the cruel haste to the fatal plunge beget 
a sort of terror. It seems a power implacable, venge- 
ful, not to be measured. 

2. American Fulls troin Kelow, Wiiitor. — De- 
scending on the American side on a clear winter's 
day a sight meets our eyes which is unparalleled in the 
world. Above us is the American Fall, bold and 
straight, and chafed to snowy whiteness by the rocks 
which meet it. The height and width and uproar 
impress us strangely. We realize for the first time 
the immense might of the downpour of the American 
Fall, and note the pale green tone, with here and 
there a \iolet tint, and the white cloud mass spurting 
out from the solid color. The whole scene assumes 
a wild and wonderful magnificence ; down come the 
dark waters hurrying with them over the edge of the 
precipice enormous blocks of ice brought down from 
Lake Erie. On each side of the Fall from the ledges 
and overhanging cliffs, are suspended huge icicles, 
some twenty, some thirty feet in length, thicker than 
the body of a man, and in color a pale green ; and 
all the crags below, which project from the boiling, 
eddying waters, are encrusted and in a manner built 
round with ice, which forms into immense crystals, 
like basaltic columns; and every tree and leaf and 
branch, fringing the rocks and ravines, are wrought 
in ice. On them and on the buildings erected near, 
the spray from the cataract accumulates, and forms 
into the most beautiful crystals and tracery work ; 
they look like houses of glass, welded and moulded 
into regular and ornamental shapes, and hung round 
with a rich fringe of icy points. 



842 NIAGARA FALLS. 

3. Aiuerican Falls from Liuua Island. — From 
the American side we may cross by a fragile bridge 
to Goat Island, that magic isle that has withstood for 
centuries the rush of the ceaseless torrent. From 
Goat Island, a bridge leads to Luna Island, a small 
grain of dry land in the very curve of the fall. At 
night, when there is a moon, a fine lunar bow is vis- 
ible from the bridge that connects it with Goat Island, 
hence its name. Standing on this mere spot of land 
we realize the dominating presence of a gigant'ic, 
pitiless force, a blind passion of nature, uncontrolled 
and uncontrollable. Nothing is so surprising as the 
extraordinary deliberation with which the waters 
take their tremendous plunge. All hurry and foam 
and fret until they reach the smooth limit of the 
curve — and then the laws of gravitation seem suspend- 
ed, the waters seem to pause for a moment and then 
drop 154 feet into the abyss. The sun shines down 
upon the seething waters, and its slanting arrows of 
light are seized upon by the mist and broken into 
myriad scintillations of prismatic hues, into fragmen- 
tary rainbows and globes and bubbles of crimsom and 
green. How glorious it is ! Columns of spray are 
drifting an'd sweeping madly in every direction. 

Below the falls the earth and rocks appear as though 
they had been suddenly rent asunder, and separated 
a quarter of a mile apart, in order to form a channel 
for the river by the perpendicular chasm thus made. 
And we can seethe river stretching away, smooth and 
deep and treacherous, 

4. Snow and Ice, Luna Island. — Luna Island is 
pleasant in summer, for it has evergreens, trees and 



NIAGARA FALLS. 843 

bushes, grasses and wild flowers in abundance, the 
atmosphere of spray by which it is surrounded being 
apparently favorable to vegetation. liut the great 
glory of Luna Island is in the winter, when all the 
vegetation is encrusted with frozen spray. The 
grasses are no longer massed in tufts, but each par- 
ticular blade is sheathed in a scabbard of diamonds, 
and flashes radiantly at every motion of the wind. 
Every tree according to its foliage receives the 
frozen masses differently. In the evergreens each 
separate needle is covered with a fine coating of daz- 
zling white. In some the spray, being rejected by 
the oleaginous particles, forms in apple-like balls at 
the extremities of the twigs, and nooks of the 
branches. In others, where the boughs and branches 
are bare, the spray lodges upon the twigs, and forms 
masses of ice that greatly resemble the uncouth 
joints of the cactus. Those close to the verge of the 
fall are sometimes loaded so completely with daz- 
zling heaps of collected spray, that the branches give 
way, and the whole glittering heap comes crashing 
down, a gleaming ruin. On the ground the spray 
falls in granulated circular drops of opaque white, 
but wherever there is a stone or a bowlder, ice is 
massed about it in a thousand varying shapes. Many 
of the formations look like coils of enormous serpents 
that have been changed by the rod of an enchanter 
into sparkling ice. 

6. Caiuulti Fall.s. — We step on Goat Island amid 
the smiling glories of a garden, and inhale with de- 
light the perfume of the flowers. Surely it is an is- 
land of magic, unsubstantial, liable to go ailrift and 



844 NIAGARA FALLS. 

plunge into the abyss. Even in the forest path, 
where the great tree trunks assure one of stabiHty 
and long immunity this feeling cannot be shaken off, 
for Goat Island is doomed. Sooner or later it will 
all be carried away by the remorseless water which 
bears away year after year yards upon yards of its 
circumscribed bounds. From this smiling green is- 
land we have a most sublime view of the Canada 
Falls. We discern the full fury of the torrent and 
catch the utmost glory of the rainbow. The clouds 
of spray come wreathing up like exhalations from an 
enchanter's den, twisting themselves into fantastic 
shapes. For the first time we comprehend the 
breadth, the great sweep of the water. We mark the 
hurried flood gathering strength as it approaches the 
verge, yet seeming too, to pause ere it shoots into 
the gulf below. At the centre the force of the 
mighty torrent converges, and as the heavy mass 
pours in, twisted, wreathed and curled together, we 
receive an idea of irresistible force such as no other 
object ever conveys. Its fall is direct and unbroken 
save by its own rebound. The color of the water be- 
fore this rebound hides it in foam and mist is of the 
brightest green ; the violence of the impulse sends it 
far over the precipice before it falls, and the effect of 
the ever-varying light through its transparency is 
more lovely than can be imagined. 

" Hail, Sovereign of the World of Floods, whose majesty and 
might. 

First dazzles, — then enraptures — then o'erawes the aching- 
sight. 

The pomp of kings and emperors, in every clime and zone 

Grows dim before the splendor of thy glorious watery throne." 



NIAGARA FALLS. 845 

(». AiiK'rirau Fall IVosn ('aiia<la Side. — Tlie vis- 
itor to Niagara quickly perceives that what was 
known as Table Rock on the Canada side is the best 
point of view for the ordinary spectator, though 
other spots bring into prominence interesting features. 
Immediately before us is the Horse-Shoe Fall ; next 
to it comes shelving down the shores of Goat Island ; 
beyond stretches the American Fall. If there were 
no Horseshoe Fall the American would be the won- 
der of the world. The whole body of water, meas- 
uring eleven hundred feet across, is at once shattered 
into foam, and comes down in a thousand feathery 
and fantastic shapes, resplendently beautiful. The 
awful floods of eternity sweep down with an over- 
whelming force that seem to set all calculation at de- 
fiance. Plunging into the abyss below with a fear- 
ful crash, they send up an enormous volume of foam 
and mist. Arising like curling smoke, it separates 
into masses of fantastic clouds, sparkling like dia- 
monds and illumined with the most brilliant colors. 
And there are voices in the uproar, heard but faintl}' 
— voices that are not articulate to human ears, but 
such as pa.'ans may have been sung in, or Orpheus 
may have charmed the brutes with. We cannot dis- 
tinguish any words, and yet the voices are full of 
meaning ; the)' seem to wail and to invite, to murmur 
and to threaten. 

" Oil ! full of glory niul of majesty, 
With all thy terrible apjiarel oil, 
}Ii|^h-|)riest of Nature, who within the veil, 
Mysterious, unappaoachahle dost dwell, 
With smoke of incense ever streaming up. 
And round thy breast the folded how of heaven." 



846 NIAGARA FALLS. 

7. Frost Work at Niagara. — In winter Niagara 
is inimitably and indescribably beautiful. The trees 
and shrubbery, covered with transparent sleet, pre- 
sent an appearance of icy brilliants, and we seem in the 
midst of a sea of diamonds sparkling in the sun ; if 
ever a dream of fairyland were realized, its realization 
is before us now. 

" A silvery web among thy trees, 
Unruffled by the passing breeze, 
The vanquished Ice-King for thee weaves, 
And gives them gems for winter leaves, 
And rears the columns bright and vast. 
Their radiance through thy halls to cast." 

Buildings are transfigured so that they resemble 
those in the fantastic stories of the East, where ala- 
baster and marble and porphyry are carried to the 
skies in the marvellous palaces of the kings. All 
things are covered with a delicate tracery, and gaz- 
ing upon some of the largest trees we are transported 
tor a moment to tropic seas and seem to be gazing at 
colossal coral formations. 

It must be remembered that if winter gives much, 
it also takes much away. If it covers the trees and 
the grass with diamonds, and heaps up ice serpents, 
and builds colonades and spires and obelisks, it takes 
away a great part of the volume of the water, for the 
thousand rills that feed the great lakes have been 
rent from the hills by the fierce hand of the Frost- 
Giant. Those who love color, and light, and majesty 
of sound, will do well to come in the summer ; those 
who love the strange, the fantastic, the fearful, must 
come in the winter. But the true lover of Nature 
will come at both times. Each has its special charm; 



NIAGARA FALLS. 847 

each has some things which the other lacks ; and 
in both arc features of transcendent beaut}\ 

8. Canada Shore From Luna Island. — From 
Luna Island we obtain an extended view of the Can- 
ada Shore. It is not without interesting features, 
with the ceaseless rush of waters below, and the 
great Suspension Bridge seeming to hang in air. 
Niagara has nothing of striking character in its 
surroundings. All that it boasts of the sublime and 
the beautiful is contained within the rock walls of its 
stupendous chasm. All its approaches are plain, 
dull and tedious. The country around is almost ab- 
solutely flat, divided into fields that wave pleasantly 
with bearded grain, and dotted with white painted 
wooden houses, ugly churches, and homely factories 
and mills. There are no forests and but few fine 
trees, and these are confined to the verge of the 
chasm. 

The villages that now crowd the vicinity have no 
recommendation on the score of fine taste ; and 
though the numbers that resort hither from every 
land have made fine hotels necessary, it has never 
been thought worth while to surround them with 
gardens, or to do aught that should remove the util- 
itarian look of the place. The staring, painted hotel 
rises on the bank, and obtrudes its pale face over the 
edge of the boiling river. But there is that in and 
about Niagara which is not to be marred by busy 
man and all his petty schemes for convenience and 
aggrandizement. While within sound of its waters 
one is under the influence of a spell, and finds it dif- 
ficult to think, speak or dream of anj'thing else. 



848 NIAGARA FALLS. 

9. Panorama of Horseshoe Falls. — Once more 
we look at the overwhelming mass which flings 
itself over the precipice. We gaze with delight on 
the exquisite coloring of the water, the dazzling 
white, the vivid green, the pellucid blue. How the 
sun seems to catch every drop of that vast volume 
and shine through it. The mystery and thick gloom 
which hide the foot of the Falls add to their apparent 
height. The floating clouds of vapor, now hurried 
over the face of the landscape, and then slowly as- 
cending and hovering like a cloud in the blue sky ; 
the wide liquid surface of the river, the beauty of the 
forested defile, with its precipices and slope, all com- 
bine to form a scene in which sublimity and pictur- 
esque beauty are enchantingly blended. 

"And still the thunder of the eternal anthem, 

And still the column of ascending incense, 
Shall draw remotest pilgrims to thy worship, 

Shall hold them breathless in thy sovereign presence, 
Oh, peerless paragon of earthly wonders ! 

Embodying, in their most intense expression. 
Beauty, sublimity, might, music, motion, 

To fix and fill at once eye, ear, thought, feeling; 
And kindling, into unknown exaltation. 

Dread and delight, astonishment and rapture." 

10. Maid of the Mist. — It well repays the visitor 
to Niagara to make the excursion on the Maid of 
the Mist. Passing up under the great Suspension 
Bridge, the little steamer comes up riding the waves, 
dashed here and there by conflicting currents, but 
resolutely steaming on — such is the audacity of man, 
• — and poking her venturesome nose into the boiling 
foam under the Horseshoe. On the deck are passen- 



NIAGARA FALLS. 849 

gcrs in oilskin suits, clumsy figures, like Arctic ex- 
plorers. The boat tosses about like a chip, it hesi- 
tates and quivers, and then slowly swinging, darts 
away down the current, fleeing from the wrath of the 
waters and pursued by the angry roar. So swiftly 
does our boat glide over the turbulent flood, that 
when she rounds up to the landing-place, and two 
strokes of the bull gives the signal to stop we cannot 
realize that our trip is at an end ; but what an exper- 
ience has been crowded into that short hour, and we 
step ashore with an ineffaceable and holy impression 
of power divine. 

11. Cantilever Briclfje. — Three hundred feet 
above the old Suspension Bridge, and in full view of 
the falls, is located the great Cantilever Bridge, built 
by the Michigan Central Railroad, and completed in 
November, 1883, forming the connecting link between 
the New York Central and Michigan Central Rail- 
roads. 

The principle of the Cantilever Bridge is that of a 
trussed beam, supported at or near its centre, with 
arms extending each way, and one end anchored or 
counterweighted, to provide for unequal loading. 
Each end is made up of a section entirely of steel, 
extending from the shore nearly half way over the 
chasm. Kach section is supported near its centre by 
a strong steel tower, from which extend two lever 
arms, one reaching the rocky bluffs, the other pro- 
jecting over the river 175 feet beyond the towers. 
The outer arm having no support and being subject 
like the other to the weight of trains, a counter 
advantage is given by the shore arm being firmly 



^5° NIAGARA FALLS. 

anchored to the rocks on the shore. The towers on 
either side rise from the water's edge ; between them 
IS a clear span of 495 feet over the river. The ends 
of the cantilevers reaching on each side 395 feet from 
the abutments, leave a gap of 120 feet filled by an 
ordinary truss bridge hung from the ends of the can- 
tilevers. Provision is made for expansion and con- 
traction by an ingenious arrangement between the 
ends of the truss bridge and the cantilevers, allowing 
the ends to move freely as the temperature changes 
but at the same time preserving perfect rigidity against 
side pressure from the wind. From the tower foun- 
dations up the whole bridge is of steel, every inch of 
which was subjected to the most rigid tests from the 
time it left the ore until the time it entered the struct- 
ure. The total length of the bridge is 9 10 feet. 

At the time this remarkable structure was built it 
was recognized as the greatest triumph of modern 
engineering, and attracted in a greater degree, perhaps 
than almost any work of the century, the attention of 
the scientific world, and brought interested visitors 
to the spot from all quarters of the globe. The 
principle was an entirely new one and was looked 
upon with great doubt by some of theablestengineers 
in the world. It has proven an unparalleled success 
and has since been applied to the great Forth Brid^re 
in Scotland, which now stands as the greatest monu- 
ment of engineering skill in existence 

12. Whirlpool Rapid.s.— Below the cataract the 
Niagara has a beauty and grandeur no less imposin- 
than the falls themselves. Not content with its 
mighty plunge the river goes surging and tossino- 



NIAGARA FALLS. 851 

downward another 104 feet in its rocky bed over the 
obliterated falls of a preglacial stream, the remains 
of a third cataract being still perceptible in the 
Whirlpool Rapids. The width of the chasm at the 
rapids is only 800 feet, this contraction being caused 
by the compact, hard nature of the sandstone rocks 
through which the river here had to cut its way. 
The depth of the Niagara here must be very great, 
and the rapidity of the current, combining with the 
volume of the stream, actually heaps the centre in a 
broken ridge, from which waves are perpetually 
forced into the air. The water fairly hisses as it 
undulates, seethes, and boils. The scene is fairly 
terrific; the waters battle, and rage and foam. 
Current opposes current, wave fights wave with 
hideous uproar. Sometimes a wave is forced into the 
air by fierce collision with another from an opposing 
side, and is broken into masses of boiling foam, which 
the wind as" it comes bellowing down the gorge, 
dri\'es in sheets of spray along the surface of the 
struggling, raging waves and upon the ceders on the 
brink. We viewed the rapids above the Falls with 
fear and trembling, but here we stand spellbound 
amid the chaos of waters. All frot and foam, leap- 
ing over those invisible rocks, it plunges onward, and 
making one dark, deep, treacherous swirl it pours 
itself, an emerald green wave, into a channel at right 
angles with its former course, and henceforth tiends 
northeast with many a gentle curve. 



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